Video reveals culprit who threw petrol bomb at tusker

“The identity of the man in the video, seen hurling a petrol bomb at the elephant, has been ascertained but he is yet to be traced. The bomb completely burnt the tusker’s ear. Profuse bleeding caused the elephant to become severely anaemic and weak,” said the official. 

The incident was shot by the accused’s neighbour, who shared it with the Department on Thursday.

However, it was not released to the media as it could hamper investigation.

“It was painful to witness this. The person did this to stop the animal from frequenting the neighbourhood. He will be arrested soon,” said KK Kaushal, Field Director of MTR.

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the TN Forest Department not to use crackers directly on elephants while chasing them back into the forests. 

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy offered the direction while disposing of a plea moved by People for Cattle in India (PFCI) regarding an injured makhna elephant from Kerala being chased away by Forest officials using crackers. 

Though Makhna died, the court during the earlier hearing on echoing the petitioner’s concern on the failure to use the latest darting technology to treat the injured elephant especially with it sustaining injury in the mouth, had sought the Forest Department to create an SOP to treat injured elephants which come from neighbouring states.